Thread: Look at this old outlet....and TV

(1) I inspected a house today built in 1955. The elderly lady passed away and the house is for sale. I was told she never updated anything and they were right. This was her TV. A 1951 model television…maybe one of the first TV’s in out town. This one has a round tube, which means it is a very early model. The put a bezel around them to make them look flat on the bottom but the tube was round. I am sure there was a lot of “Gunsmoke” and even earlier shows watched on this TV. It still works.

(2) Look at this old outlet. The bottom socket contained normal 120 volts and was used to power a lamp, but look at the configuration of the top socket. No power was detected on this top socket. Look at the configuraton of the top prongs. I have seen similar different types of odd looking outlets from the 1940's but this is a new one on me.

What say ye....experts?

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Originally Posted by Gene South

(1) I inspected a house today built in 1955. The elderly lady passed away and the house is for sale. I was told she never updated anything and they were right. This was her TV. A 1951 model television…maybe one of the first TV’s in out town. This one has a round tube, which means it is a very early model. The put a bezel around them to make them look flat on the bottom but the tube was round. I am sure there was a lot of “Gunsmoke” and even earlier shows watched on this TV. It still works.

(2) Look at this old outlet. The bottom socket contained normal 120 volts and was used to power a lamp, but look at the configuration of the top socket. No power was detected on this top socket. Look at the configuraton of the top prongs. I have seen similar different types of odd looking outlets from the 1940's but this is a new one on me.

What say ye....experts?

Hello Gene,

I'm pretty sure that is for the antennae connection.

Sincerely,

Corey

Corey, thanks. My guess however is the odd socket is not for the TV, since it was not in the same room as the TV and also since it is built into an electrical device (the outlet). I could be wrong however.....!

Originally Posted by Gene South

Corey, thanks. My guess however is the odd socket is not for the TV, since it was not in the same room as the TV and also since it is built into an electrical device (the outlet). I could be wrong however.....!

Maybe for a radio antenna but there's no way to be sure without pulling the cover. One thing we're sure of, it's obsolete.

That TV's a collector's item. We should watch for it on ebay.

Cool stuff for sure..... IMO it's bordering on poor taste and an invasion of a person's privacy to come into their home, take pictures of their family and post them on the internet.

Matt,
You need to lighten up a bit.
He didn't post anything out of the norm or anything that would even identify the home.
No address is furnished, homebuyers name, no pictures of credit card numbers, social security cards.

NO harm done.

rick

I'm thinking factory mistake and the original sparky did not want to go back to the shop or supply house.

Not trying to be a stick in the mud..... just my opinion... I'm entitled to it.

The upper portion is for an antenna. I have seen these odd ball antenna connections as single, stand-alone outlets, and even have a wired one in my house, but never one with a 120 volt outlet connected below. They were used in the 1930's for radios.

Back in the early days of radios, an external antenna was required. There was no such thing as a radio set with a built-in antenna. People would entertain themselves by trying to pull in as many stations from as many cities as possible. Sometimes weather conditions would bring in a station from hundreds of miles away. People hearing these long distance broadcasts sometimes wrote the stations, saying when they were listening, and describing a short section of the show "... Several musical selections were played, followed by a comercial for Village Stuedbaker, and then there was ...". The station would check their records (they still keep them) and if the time and description were correct, they would send the listener a postcard with the stations call letters and city, verifying that the broadcast had been intercepted. From what I have been told, the greater the number of these post cards, the more highly regarded your radio equipment was considered.

Getting back to the plug, it was made purposefully goofy, so a homeowner could not accidentally plug the antenna plug into a standard outlet. One prong (the angled one) was connected to a "long wire" antenna, usually in the attic, or strung outside. The other one was for a "true earth" ground. This was usually either a driven rod or connection to a burried water or gas line. Outside antennas were often not protected against lightning strikes, and more than one person's house burnt down when a bolt of lightning hit the antenna wire.

If you ever come across an antenna plug which fits this outlet, let me know. My house, built in 1911, has the antenna outlet, and I have a great old Montgomery Ward multiple band radio which still runs great. It would be nice to use the proper plug, and not one I made myself from a couple of broken lamp cord type plugs, epoxyed into a prescription pill bottle at the right angles.

Scott

QSL cards is what they sent back to the listener, and the radio stations and TV stations still do today in the digital age. We can pick up a TV station from Wichita KS, some 200 plus miles away with our DB-4 antenna I made for less than $15.